An Introduction to Global Missions

The Great Commission that Jesus gave to his church is the grand task that was given for us to carry out until Christ’s return. It should be our delight to carry this out and all our efforts should be pushed towards this task. But the question is, what exactly does carrying out the Great Commission look like? Is it simply doing local evangelism? I would like to make the case biblically, that although the Great Commission does include local evangelism, its main concern is the gospel going to every nation, especially those who have no gospel witness. If this is the concern of the Great Commission, then it should be our concern as well.

To understand this, we must first understand that God is a missional God. God is the God of holiness, love, and glory and whose divine intention is to display his glory over all the earth by making his image bearers cover the earth. This is the very purpose of the creation mandate (Gen. 1:28), to be fruitful and multiply. Since the Fall, God is now doing the work of restoring the image of God in fallen men and spreading the new creation over the whole earth. We see this through Israel as a people who were God’s chosen people to be a blessing to the nations (Gen. 12:1-4). Israel failed in this as a rebellious people which then points us to Jesus Christ. In God’s redeeming work, he sends his Son to become incarnate as the new creation, the true image of God (Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3). It is then through Christ’s person and work, and our union with him that this image is restored; if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). Where then does the Great Commission fit in? The Great Commission is the command to take the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16) to the nations. In the gospel going to all the nations, the lost are being saved, local churches are being established then to evangelize their own people. In this glorious work, the image of God expands over the whole earth (see Rev. 7:9).

Now I wish to emphasize the question of “where.” Where should we focus our efforts? We see the success of this commission in the book of Acts as the gospel goes forth through the apostles first to Jerusalem and then to the surrounding nations. Today the gospel has gone to ends of the earth, but there are still countless people in the world without access to the gospel and without a local church in their language to evangelize them. There are numerous languages on top of that without translations of Scripture (for numbers see Wycliff Global Alliance). This then informs where our efforts should be geared towards in global missions. As we gaze upon the landscape of countries full of sinners walking down the path towards eternal torment, where do we go? I would like to make the case for the church’s focus to be on areas of greatest need. Certainly, our own country is in need of evangelization and laborers for this task. Certainly, there are churches in other countries that are weak and in need of support from missionaries. But biblically, our focus and burden should be towards the places where there is no foundation laid and where there is no church to evangelize its people. This will be mainly in unreached language groups where there is no healthy church established. We see this in Romans 15:20 where Paul says, “I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else’s foundation.” This is why Paul wanted to go to Spain. Notice earlier what he says, Paul states in v.19 that he has fulfilled from Jerusalem to Illyricum he has fulfilled the ministry of the gospel. But Paul, there are thousands of people in these places who need to be evangelized? What about planting other churches in these regions? Although, for Paul, his concern was planting churches where there was no foundation at all. He can say he has fulfilled the ministry of the gospel in these places because there are churches that can continue in local evangelism. This is why Paul sent Timothy to Ephesus, because part of his job was to “do the work of an evangelist (2 Tim. 4:5).

This is not much reflected in the mission world today. We hear things like “everyone is a missionary” or “but our own country has such a great need.” There is some truth in these statements, but I don’t believe these statements are led by the burden of Scripture. As important as it is for men to be raised up to pastor and evangelize in our own country, and as important as it is for our local church to evangelize the lost around us, an equal or even greater burden of the local church should be to take the gospel to the places with no gospel witness. I do not mean to stifle the desire of those who wish to labor in their own country or cross culturally in a country with established churches. But my desire is to emphasize where the burden should be placed in global missions. John Paton the missionary to the New Hebrides demonstrates this heart as he says, “The wail and the claims of the Heathen were constantly sounding in my ears. I saw them perishing for lack of knowledge of the true God and His Son Jesus, while my Green Street people had the open Bible and all the means of grace within easy reach, which, if they rejected, they did so willfully, at their own peril.”1 Such was the heart of Paul and ultimately the heart of Jesus Christ (Acts 1:8) and so may it be our own.

The question of “who” will now be briefly addressed. Who should be involved in this? Ultimately every local church should be involved in this mission. William Carey famously spoke of those who hold the ropes and those who go. If you are not going cross culturally as a missionary, then you should be holding the rope through prayer and support of those going. The local church is central to the Great Commission and so each local church should be holding the rope in some form. Now, those who are actually going, have different roles. First and foremost, elder qualified men are the only people qualified to plant a church. Such men are to go overseas, learn the language, preach, plant a church and raise up indigenous men to pastor. This is then a work that elder qualified men must be leading in the planting of churches in another culture. There are also those who support the elder qualified men in this task. There are missionaries who support and who must be qualified as well, meeting the character qualifications of a deacon or elder. So yes, women are vital to carrying out this task of missionary work. Both women and men who aren’t pastors can and should support this work by being sent and without them, this task would not be possible.

Now ever briefly, the “how” of missions. Prayer alongside the preaching of the gospel is central to the missionary work. Prayer is vital for the task of missions as without prayer, we are relying upon the arm of the flesh. Prayer is the driving force of anything the church does, as she imitates her Savior. It is in prayer that we cry out to God for his name to be hollowed through the coming of his kingdom through our weak and frail efforts. We pray because we have no power in ourselves, but it all comes from God. If we desire conversions, baptisms, maturity, people being raised up, we must be daily on our knees. It is also needed to emphasize that the local church is central. This is why I am writing this, for the local church, because without the local church, there is no mission. The local church sends out missionaries to plant other healthy local churches in accords with Scripture. Alongside prayer, this is done through the faithful preaching of the gospel. It is through gospel proclamation (Rom. 10:14-15). The work of the missionary is primarily then to pray and preach the gospel. For it is through preaching that people are saved and healthy churches are built.

There is much more that could be said on this as there are books written. But it is my prayer that through this brief introduction, God will fuel the fire in your hearts for greater fervency in prayer and greater desire to send out laborers into the harvest. This is the desire of our Lord Jesus Christ and may it be ours as well.

1 Paton, John G. John G. Paton: The Autobiography of the Pioneer Missionary to the New Hebrides. Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2024.